Automatic power-discharge chute



Nov. 8, 1927.

A. C. MENNINGEN AUTOMATIC POWER DISCHARGE CHUTE File d Feb. 5, 1926 4Sheets-Sheet 1 Nov. 8, 1927.

A. C. MENNINGEN AUTOMATIC POWER DISCHARGE CHUTE Filed Feb. 5, 1926 4Sheets-Sheet 2 Nov. 8, 1927. 1,648,144

' A. c. MENNINGEN AUTOMAT I C POWER DI S CHARGE CHUTE Filed Feb. 5, 19264'Sheets-Sheet 3 Nov. 8, 1927,

A. c. MENNINGEN AUTOMATIC POWER DISCHARGE 0mm:

4 Sheet 4 Filed F Patented Nov. 8, 1927.

ADOLPH C. MENNINGEN, F MILXVAUKEE, VISCONSINf-A-SSIG'NOR TO KOEHRINGdOM- PAR Y, OF MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN, A CORPORATION.

AUTOMATIC rowan-DISCHARGE entire.

Application filed February 5, 1926 SerialNo. 86,200.

In the construction of concrete mixing machines today, particularlythose of larger capacities, the discharge means for the mixer requiresthe employment of considerable power for the operation thereof.v Thesaid discharge means is therefore commonly actuated by connectingthesame up with the power plant ofthe mixer to be driven therefrom; Theconnecting up has usually been established heretofore by the use of moreor less complicated clutch mechanism under manual control, and requiringthe throwing in of the clutch to turn the discharge chute to dischargingposition, the throwing out of such clutch to enable the said chute toremain in discharge position, and the throwing in again of the saidclutch to return the chute to non-discharging position.

An essential object of the present invention has been to dispense withthe use of clutch mechanism of the type above referred to, and utilizejaspecial stopping and starting mechanism of quite a different nature forthrowing into action the chute moving means, one more simple, veryeffective, and eliminating the disadvantages that are usually incident'to the employment of clutch parts ofeither the jaw or friction classes.

An additional object of the present in vention is to improve generally astopping and starting mechanism of the class above characterized such asembodied in the copending application of Webb, Serial No. 5827, filedJanuary 30, 1925, in which are used certain worm gear actuating andcontrolling parts, the efiiciencyof which by the improvements hereof hasbeen materially increased.

A full understanding of the invention will be had on reference to thefollowing description, in conjunction with the accompanying drawings inwhich Figure'l is a fragmentary view in elevation showing a portion ofaconcrete mixer with the mixing drum broken away to illustrate itsdischarge chute which is connected up with the stopping and startingmecha nism of this invention under the control of a batchmeter. so knownin the art; a porsafety eoupling or connection between the tion of aloading skip being also shown in its discharge chute shaft and thestarting' and stopping mechanism, "partly broken away l and shown insection.

Figure 3 is a. sectional view of the casing of the stopping and startingmechanismshowing'the-camn1ore clearly and certain driving connectionsfor transmitting move-* ment from the power actuating means to thechute, the View being taken on about the line of 83 of Fig. 4. p Figure4 is'a horizontal sectional View showing more clearly certainparts seenin Fig.3.

"I Figure'5'is, a verticalsection taken on the planes indicated.approximately by lines 55 of Fig. 3. i I Figure 6 is a sectional viewtaken through the 'alined control shafts at. the bottom' of .the casingwhich contains. the startingand stopping parts and driving connections.

Figure 6 is a sectional view showing the relation of.the starting leverandits release lever to the driving shaft and co-operativ'e featuresthere-between, dotted lines showing the range ofinovem-ent of the leverand coaction between them and the" driving pins. Figure 7 is a sectionalview taken about on the line 77 of Fig. 6 c Figure 8 is adetailedview..-showing a little more clearly the co-operation of theroller carried by'the starting lever, with one of the driving pins. i 1Figure 9 is a sectional view taken on the line of 9-9 of Fig. 8, andfragmentary.

Figure 10 is a fragmentary view, partly in section, showing slightlymodified construction ofthe starting lever and its arm.

Figure 11 is a view illustrating how the mechanism of the invention maybe inverted and arranged on the frame work of the machine so that it' issupported by a bottom bracket instead of being suspendedfrom a topbracket supporting means, the construction operating on the sameprinciple as that shown in the previously described figures. abovementioned. Referring first to Figs. 1 and 2,1, designates the mixingdrum of any conventional type of mixing machine; 2, the fragmentaryportion of a loading'skip; 3,'a batchmeter of the constructionsubstantially as shown and described in the U. S. Letters Patent ofNinkler No. 1,451,483, issued April. 10, 1923.; amt 4;,; associatedstarting and stopping mechanism with driving parts controlled The chute5' is areversible chute and at Fig. 1 it is shown in a full lineposition in which it is adjusted to discharge the contents of thedrum 1. It may be shifted to reverse its inclination in which event itwill have assumed a non-discharging position in which-it may or maynotact as a mixing element as may .be required or vdesiredin service.For-the purposes of this specification the .ohute 5 is shiftable from anon-dis- .charginmto adischarging position and .the means .for-sdoing-this work will now be set forth; I

Enmes'hed with the teeth of the gear ring 6: of the :drum 1 is a spurgear 7, which is constantly driven thereby so long as the drum1.is-inlmotion. The drum 1 isdriven from-the power plant o f the mixerin the well known manner. The gear 7 is carried a driving shaft8- usedto transmit mo- .1 tio1r .from the drum .1 to the chute 5. shaft 8enters the casing 4: and is equ pped The inside ,the casing, with adriving worm 9. The worm 9 has its spiral portion engaglng permanentlywith the worm teeth lt) of a worm .gear lO which is constantly driven orrotated thereby,:beingloosely mounted upon ash'aft' 11.- Coaxial withthe worm gear 1 0 'i s' a,.second' wormgearll2, whose worm teeth I2".are:-symmetrical with those of the gearilO, the said teethof the gear12, however, beinginterrupted or omitted as shown at'fl2 'lin Fig. 4 andin Fig. 6". The gear 12 is keyed to the shaftll, as shown at'13' (seeFig. 57) .and the interrupted portions of theteethof the gear 12, whichfor convenience will be called recesses 12. are of such alength that theworm 9 may turn freely in-zthe space between the terminals of saidrecesses 12?, ,and the gear ,12 under such conditions will .remalninactive. The gears 10 v and 12 might -.be said to be a composite gear,

considered collectively, one of the parts recessed .at diametricallyopposite portions of.

its periphery, as .at 12, .so that it may remain unaffected by the driveof'the other part or .so .that theworm 9 will not actuate thegear orgear fparlt 12 when disposed in and-opposite either one of the recesses12. For the purposes hereof, however, We shall consider ,the'gears 10and 12' as separate gears because they may function together orseparately, their teeth, however, being adapted .to line up with oneanother so that .theyflmay .act'jsubstantially as asingle gear whenkbothare simultaneously engaged by thejworm' 9.

The gear .12 being keyed to the shaft 11 wil'l drive .the shaft ll whensaid worm 12 d s-driven. The shaft 11 extends through .ithefsid'eso'fthecasing ta'ndis suitably journaled therein, and equipped at oneouter end 180 then arm 16will reverse the inclination of thechute 5 fromthe positionof Fig. 1 and adjust itfto a non-discharging position. Asecond movement. of the arm 14 of about 180 will raise the arm 16 to it's original positiomas shown in Fig. 1 in full lines and move the chute 5to a discharging position again. I

It will, therefore, be understood thatf or practical purposes the wormgear 10 is'a driving worm gear and the worm. gear 12 is a driven wormgear, and when the two gears are connected together motion will betransmitted from the drum 1 to thechute. n

The means for controlling the connection ofthe parts 10 and 12, andtheir disconnection will .now be set forth- The'batchmeter 3 being of aknown type is not described in detail as-it suflices .to

state that it is operated from the loading skip 2' as'said skipreaches-a positionabout as shown in Fig. 1 wherein a trip rod1'8' isshown inthe act-of being s'truc'kby an abutment 19 on the skip 2. Theabutment in this way. operates the rod 18 to swing the arm 20 of thebatchmeter and set the batchmeter into operation topred'etermine andcontrol the mixing vperiod of the drum 1 after the known manner. Thismixing period is usually a minute or a. minute and a half and upon itsexpiration the mechanism within the batchmeter' causes its control arm21 to move up, lifting on the 'lift rod 22 and raising the actuating arm23 on the outside of the casing 4. 'The arm 23 is carried by the shaft2,4 whichfis ashort shaft mounted in a bearing at one side of the casing4 and having rigidly attached to its inner end a fork or rocker arm 25.fork of arm 25 is preferablyprovided by the use of two parallel bars, asseen in Figs. 3, 4, 5 and 6,-one ofwh-ich bars is locked to shaft 24 (asby the use of a bolt asfseen in Fig. 6), and the other of whichbars ispivoted on a shaft 28 hereafter'to be described, and the two bars beingrigid-ly 'fixed together, as by'being formed integral'thro ujgh anintegrally cast connecting cross web 25 1, as seen in Fig; 5. Thisrocker arm .25 has pivoted thereto between the bars of the fork ,alocking pawl 26, which serves as a positive lock for the whole dischargemecha nism after the batchmeter '3 has been set, and during the periodof its controlling operation, at which time the chute 5 is in non- The.f

so'as tohave an abrupt abutting engage ment at 29 with a Collar 30'pinned to the outer end of the shaft 28. Also, handle 29 has acamingengagement at 29 with the collar 30 and between the collar and theadjacent side of the casing 4:.

The releaselever 27 carries a roller 31 adapted to engage the lower endof a starting lever 32, which may be described as a 3-armed lever. Atits upper end the starting lever'is connected by a coiled spring 33 witha suitable portion of the casing 4 and said spring 33 tends to mo-ve'thelever32 toward the shaft Qor axis 11. The release lever 27, however, isa detent and normally tends to hold the starting lever 32 in a positionat its limit of movement away from the shaft" 11 with the spring 33expanded and under tension. a

The startinglever 32 functionspeculiarly as a means to connect theconstantly'moving driving worm with the intermittently operable worm 12.For this purpose, see Fig. 6 ,.the lever 32 is provided on its longupper arm with an abutment cam 33, seen best in Fig. 7 the inclinedportion'of this cam being adapted to engage an inclined head 3a on eachone of two driving pins 35,

which are yieldingly mounted on the worm gear 12 at opposite sides oftheraxis of the latter, that is to say at opposite sides ofshaft 11. Thepins 35 have shoulders 36 engaged by ends of springs 37 locked inrecesses in'the body of the worm 12, said springs 37 engaging the innerends of the said recesses and normally tending to project the pins 35outwards or in a direction away from the driving worm gear 10.

The driving worm gear 10 is provided with a series of, preferably aboutseven,

openings 38, see Fig. 8. which openings are adapted 'to register withthe pins 35 and receive the inner ends of said pinsat certain times whenthe pins are projected at such inner ends from their recesses, under theaction ofthe cam 33. In other words, one 'of the functions of thestarting lever 32, is, when released, to carry its cam abut-- ment'33against the head 3lofa pin 35 and project said pin at its inner end-intoengagement with one of the openings 38 or fork consists of when saidopening comes oppositeor reg-.1

isters with the pin. Under theseconditions' the operated pin willconnect the driving worm gear 10 with the driven wormgear" 1.2 and'thenthe worm gear 12 will be moved a short distance by the pin 35 until itsteeth at the left end of the uppermost recess 12 seen in Figs. 3 and 1,become engagedwith the spiral of the driving worm- 9. At such time thespiral or thread of the driving worm 9 by contact 'withthe teeth of thedriven worm gear 12 takes the load of the drive of said worm gear 12,which has previously been carried by, the interlocked pin 35, and underthese conditions, since the worm 9 engages both of the worm gears 10 and12, the frictional driving stress on the pin 35 belng relieved, itsrespective spring.

37 will act to return the pinto a position in which it is released fromengagement with the worm. gear 10.

Of course, the'pins 35 work in alternation, the particular pin beingprojected when the release lever 27 becomes disengaged from the startinglever 32 as previously suggested, so that the spring '33 may act as amotor to carry the lever 32 towardthe shaft 11.

When once the worm gear 1'2 has been placed in proper engagement withthe driving worm 9, the latter will turn the wormgear 12, its shaft 11and arm ltapproximately a half revolution, all initiated 'by thebatchmeter operation of lifting the rocker arm 25 on upward movement ofthe arm 23 by the lift rod 22. Such half revolution will turn thedischarge chute from a non-discharging position to a dischargingposition in which it is shown in full lines in F ig.-1. Ofcourse, assoon as the gear 12 has made a half revolution, its

recess 12 'which was previously lowermost,

see Fig. 3, arrives at its uppermost position and causes a-disengagementof'the driv-' ing worm 9 from activev operating relation to said gear12. The-starting lever 32 is restored to its position under the controlof the detent or release lever27, by engagement of the shank of the pin35, opposite the pin 35 acted upon by the cam part 33, in a startingoperation. The said second pin with its. shank, ofcourse,turns'with thegear 12 af- Ill) ter said gear commences to move through its connectionwith the gear 10, or worm -9, so that when said second pin reaches apoint opposite a roller 40, carried by the lever 32, the lever'32'willbe forced'to the left at its upper end bringing its lower end intoengagement with the detent or release lever 27, which holds it in thefull alinedposition of Fig, 6 a restored position, again placing thespring 33 under tension.

The roller 40 is rather peculiarly mounted on the lever 32 being carriedby a small pivoted arm 41, which has a slight; rocking movement. Inaddition to its function, as

above ClGSCIlbHL'Of restoring the lever 32 to its-position engagedby thepart2'7, the roller 40; acts-as the stop to hold the gear 12 wth its:upper recess "1-2 arranged so that the ".worm 9 is centrally disposedin the recess properly disengaged from the gear 12 until 'the-latter ispropelled into such anen'gagenien't'ata certaintime by the-cam part 33.

The lever 32, in addition to its upper arm :and its lower a'rm,has amiddle lateral arm 42 provided with a cam or inclined extremity. 43'that functions in a special manner. Thesaidcam-43', when the lever32 isin fullline-positionof Fig.6"*, is adapted to engage eitherof'the-locking pins 35, as the gear 12 turns in a clockwise direction(seeFig. 9). Thus-if thespring 37 of'oneof the locking pins shouldbecome broken, or such "pin not restored through lack of lubrication, orfor some other cause, it will be positively disengaged from the drivingworm gear 10 by t-hezarm "42'and its cam L3. The co-operationof thepart-42 with the pin 35 relative towhieh it is actively engaged performsa stepping function, moreover, to insure the stopping of the worm gear:12 ina centralized position, asregards the'relation notchsnuglycontacting with and conforming movement, sothatthe cam hea'ds34of'said pins 35 are retained always 'inproper position to be engagedby the co to the; contour of the periphery of a disklike part 44, whichis formed integrally with a .hub extension 45 of the driven gear 12. Thepurpose of this contact is to maintain pins 35- from having independentangular surfaces of the operative cam 33 s V Thei'release or 'detentlever 27 being car- I ried by the shaft 28 on which the handle-29 ismounte'd,-may he tripped at any time by hand, exceptwhen the batchmeter3 has beemset by the trip rod 18 and while the chute 5 is in itsnon-discharging "position. It will beiob-vious that it is not desiredthat the starting lever '32 be susceptible-of being released when themixing. period is being controlled by .th'e-ibatchmeter 3. I If thiswere possible, th'en the-contr'ol ofthe mixing operation by thebatchmeter might be interfered- With. For this reason, the locking pawl26 is engaged with the release lever 27 when "thestarting devices areunder the control of the batchmeter and premature-ending of themixingperiod is prevented.

By reference to vFigs. 3 and 7 it will be seen that the hubextension451of the worm gear '12, in addition to having the round diskpart 44, is provided witha cam'46, the cam 'surfaceof which is; adaptedto contact with the locking pawl26, when the chute 5 hasbeen moved todischarge position byoperav tion of the worm gear 12. Under such conditions,- he cam A e6 maintains contact with the pawl 26 and holds itoutof engagement respecting the detent or. release lever,}27.

Therefore, it is possible at this time, name- 1y, when the pawl 26 is sodisengaged, for

the operator to turnthe handle 29loose on the shaft 28.- thereby-to tripthe releaselever 27 out of engagement respecting the start ing'lever32,'to cause-said startinglever'to perform its starting function andreturn the chute '5 ton non discharging position at the will .of theoperator. This action of the handle 29 involvesengagement between thehandle abutment 29 and the fixed collar 30 of the shaft 28. If thehandle is turned in" an opposite direction the cam portion 2 9 of thehandle will go into action and cause a clamping or binding actionbetweenthe release lever 27 rocker arm 25 .andgtheside of'the casing 4in such a manner as to hold those of these parts which are movable,

againstoperation. This is only done when the operator of the'machinewishes to ,pre-.

vent the chute -5 from, beingfturned to the discharging position underthe influence of the tripping action of the batch-meter 3 through itslift rod '22.

of the-mixing periodyor in other word's,

cause a discharge'of the drum before the i There are occasions. when itis possible that the discharging of batchmeter control period isover,.it may be i used to prolong the time that the batch of concrete isretained in the drum, something which could I do no harm.- A safetycoupling means is shown intermediate-of the chute op erating shaft 17and the" arm .16 attached to' the rod 15, but as this safety coupling,is described in the Vebb application, previously referred to,-and formsno part of the present invention, it is not treated in detail herein. i

It is notable from Fig. 6 that when' the starting lever 82 isreleased,it rocks in such a manner that its arm 42imoves downward out of the pathof ithe lewermost :locking pin 35.

Concisely describing the complete 'opera tion of my mechanism, itisinoted that the parts, as in-the normal positions ofFig; 3', arereadyto be operated by the-batchmeterS to cause -a movement of thedischarge chute to discharging'position. .The'worm 9 is-in constantmotion, as is th'egear "10'. ,The gear 12 is stationary. At the end' ofthe aising lever 27'to relea se the starting lever 32. The spring 33'now pulls the starting lever 32 to the right and causes it to actthrough its cam 33 to interlock .the gear 12 manually with the gear 10,and sufficiently long so that the two gearsrotatetogether in order to"accurately mesh the gear 12 with the worm 9. The interlock between thetwo gears 10 and 12 is now removed by retraction of the operativelocking pin and the gear 12 rotates a half revolution until itspreviously lower recess 12'f is uppermost. Thechute 5 by the action ofthe gear 12 is moved to, discharge position, as shown in Fig. '1. Thecam 46 now engages the pawl 26 and holdsit away from-the releaselever27. The operation of 20 v erator, who may actuate the lever 2 7 at anytime to cause operation of the starting lever the chute may now becontrolled by the op- 32 to eiiect retract-ion of the chute 5 to normalnon-discharging position. When chute 5 is, back at normal position, thecam 46 is inactive relative 'to the pawl 26 and the mechanism is againunder the control of the batchmeter and cannot be controlled manually tocause operation of the chute.

. on the arm 21 to cause said arm 21 to move But while the parts are inthe full line positions of Fig. 3, should the operator-not wish topermit discharge action of the chute 5, he may prevent the batchmeter 3from initiating the action of the starting lever 32,

conditions, the batchmeter arm 21 moves up-.

wards, but does not effect operation of the arm 25, though power isstored up in the batchmeter spring (not shown) which acts the arm 25just as soon as the operator turns the handle 29 to release his controlby which he. delays the turning of the chute 5 to dis charge position. Y

The arm 42 and the lever 32, shown as an integral unit, may be in twoparts as shown inthe modified view in Fig. 10 as 42 and 32 respectively.This arrangement may be used as a further assurance for gaining apositive locking together of the worm wheels 10 and 12 by means of thepins 35. The independent arm 12 shoulders against the shank of the pins35 during the period in which the lever 32 is moving-to the right,

until a lug on the lever 32 contacts with the upstanding leg Z) ofthearm 42, from which moment the abutment a rocks downwardly to allowthe pin 35 to pass by with the rotation of themember in which the saidpins are 'housed. The diiierence between the two arrangements is achange in the movement time of the arm 42', which is laterthan that ofthe arm 42 and this insures a complete iny turning the handle 29torender the cam 1 to 3 inclusive, with its enclosed mechanism,

is rearranged slightly, being mounted upon the frame work of themachine. with an arrangement inverted as compared with thathereinbefor'e' described. This view simply illustrates that it is notvdesired to be limited to any particular arrangement of the startingmechanism because such phase of the presentation of the invention is notmaterial so long as the said mechanism is suitably. connected up withthe chute to operate it, and is likewise connected up with the batchmeter to be controlled thereby. Having thus described my invention, whatI claim as new and desire to secure byLetters Patent of the UnitedStates,is:

1. In .a chute operating mechanism, in combination, a batch meter, achute, means operably connected with the chute [and batch metercontrolled means'to interlock the second gear with the first mentionedgear for starting the movement of the two. gears together. i

- 2 In a chute operating mechanism, in combination, a power drivingmember, a power driven member, a chute operably connected with the powerdriven member, a batch meter, means to interlock the power drivingmember with the powerdriven memher, and means connecting the lastmentioned means with the batclrmeter for control thereby. j Y

3! In a chute operating mechanism, in combination, a power drivingmember, a

, power driven member, a chute operably connected with, the power drivenmember, a. batch meter, means to interlock the power drivingmember withthe power driven memher, and means connecting the last men tioned meanswith the batch met-er forcontrol thereby, and a driving part for thepower driving member adapted-to drive the driven member after themovement of the latter has been initiated by the operationof the meansinterlocking the same with', the

power driving member.

4:. In a chute operating combination a power driving member, a powerdriven member, a chute operably connected with the power driven member,a batch meter, means to interlock the power driving member with thepower driven memher, and means connecting the last mentioned mechanism,in

"meanswlwith the batch. meter for control therebxand' a driving part forthe power driving, member adapted'to drive the driven member fter. themovenientoi" the latter [hasheeninitiatedby the operation of themeansinterlo'cking the same with the power driving member, and means forrendering ;the; interlocking means inactive after the i powerd'rivenmenber' hasjbeen placed in coi Periatin with he r v ng P o actuapn hereby.

a driving gear,

1 i a driving part normally operatingsaid" gear,

is; d

ItiQnL with he riving par n c u tin mea s. c ntrol d y the e m er fo 0P-erating the lastmentionedfmeans; I

' 6. Inchute OPGIatlIIgQmGQDQ lIl combinati'on, batch meter, a chute, adriving gear adriv'ing part, normally operating said gear,

a driven gear adapted to be operated by said driving, part but normallyout of connection P I a i q :Z'gIn combination, a chute, two coaxially'mounted driv ng and driven worm gears, a

worm normally driving the driving worm therew th, means forinterconnecting the gear-with the driving gear so, as to br g ttion'wththe driving part, and actuating IIIQQQH SCQDl/I'O'llQCl by thebatch meter for op- "erflt e theilast m n ioned means, a means forrendering the interconnecting means between the gears inactive when thedriven gear 'has beenconnected up with the driving gear a and meshingtherewith, the driven wor n,gear having'a recess inits periphery to'receive the worm to prevent operation reby, oth Q -the W rm g a havingteeth, teeth of one forming continnations of the teeth of the other,starting mechanism including means for connecting the driven worm ge'arwith the driving worm gear to bring the teeth of'the dr ven worm gearnto interengaged with the driving worm, and

thereby, both of the worm gears teeth, teeth of one formingcontinuations of' engagement with the driving Worm, means v todisconnectthe driving and driven worm gears when the driven worm gearhasfbeen m an c nn ct g. h ri en Wo m gear. to

i. perate th ch 8;.In' o na i n, a hute, twoo oaxial'ly mounted drivinganddriven worm gears, a wormnormally driv ng the drivlng worm gear and"mesh ng the ewi h, he ive W rm gea haYing, av re ess n its. p riphery torece ve the worm to prevent operatlon having thetee'th of the other,starting mechanism 'Inchute operatingmean in c mbine itie geb tch metera hute,

he drivengear into-operative connecincluding means for connecting thedriven worm gear with the drivingworm' gearto bring the teeth of thedrivenworm gear into engagement with the driving worm, means todisconnect the driving and driven: worm gears when thedrivenworm'gear'has been inter-engaged withv driving worm, and meansconnecting the drivenworm gearto operate the chute; and a batch meterfor causing actuation ofthe starting 'IIlfiC'llHillflSID'flfQIi sa i 9.In combination, a chute,two coaxially mounted driving anddrivenvrormgears, a worm normally. driving the driving worm gear and meshingtherewith, the-- "driven worm gear having. a recess in its periphery toreceive the. worm to prevent operation thereby, both] of the worm gears:having teeth, teeth of one forming continuations:0f, the teeth of theother, starting mechanism including means for connecting-thedri'ven 35to disconnect the driving and driven worm gears when the driven wormgear has: been interei gagcd with "the driving worm, and meansconnecting the driven worm gear to operate the chute, powermeansfor'putting the starting mechanism aforesaidinto-action, other andmanual means for causingntheoperation of said starting mechanism andmeans for preventing for a certain lapsed time the operation ofthestarting niecha-l nisi'n by saidpower means.

1'0. In combination, achute, two coaxially mounted driving anddiivenWOIIII' gears, a

worm normally driving the driving Worm gearfand! meshing therewith, the;driven worm; gear llitVlIlg a recess in its per phery to receive theworm to prevent operation thereby, both of the worm gears having teeth,teeth, of oneforming continnations; of the teeth of'the other, startingmechanism" including means for connecting the driven wormgear with thedriving, worm gear to bring the teeth of the driven orm gear intoengagement with the driving worm, means to d scont nue the .dr vingand'driven,

worm gears when the driven worm gear has r been interengaged with thedriving worm,

and means connecting the driven ,worm gear to operate the chute, batchmeter controlling; means for causing operation of; the startingmechanism, manual means alsoifor causing operation'of the startingmechamu nism andineans cooperative with saidlnian' .iial means forinterfering with the opera on of the starting mechanism by thehatch ,mei ter controlling means,

11. In combination, a chute, .tW OfiXifiHY mounted driving and driven wom. gears; a worm, normally dliiViIlgv the driving worm gear and meshingtherewith, the drive worm gear having a recess in its periphery toreceive the worm to prevent operation thereby, both of the worm gearshaving teeth, teeth of one forming continuations of the teeth oftheother, starting mechanism including means for connecting'the drivenworm gear with the driving worm gear to bring the teeth of the drivenworm gear into engagement with the driving worm, means to discontinuethe driving and driven worm gears when the driven worm gear hasbeeninterengaged with the driving worm, and means connecting the driven wormgear to operate the chute, batch meter controlling means for causingoperation of the starting mechanism, manual means also for causingoperation. of the starting mechanism and means cooperative with saidmanual means for interfering with the operation of the startingmechanism by the batch meter controlling means, and means operated bythe driven worm gear for preventing said interfering means from beingoperated when the chute is in a certain position.

12. In a chute operating mechanism, in combination, a chute, anoperating device for said chute including power driveninstrumentalities, a connection between said chute and said powerinstrumentalities, a batch meter for causing operation of the chute bythe power driven instrumentalities, other means for causing operation ofthe chute by the power driven instrumentalities, and means for renderingthe last mentioned means inoperative when the chute is in a cer tainposition. a

13. In a chute operating device, in combination, power driveninstrumentalities, a chute, means to operate the chute from the powerinstrumentalities, a batch vmeter to control the operation of the lastnamed means, the chute being movement from a ,nondischarging to adischarging position,

manual means to cause operation of the chute by the powerinstrumentalities, and means to prevent operation of the chute under thecontrol of the manual means when the chute is in nondischargingposition.

14. In a chute operating device, in combination, power driveninstrumentalities, a chute, means to operate the chute from the powerinstrumentalities, a batch meter to control the operation of the lastnamed means, the chute being movement from a non-discharging to adischarging position, manual means to cause operation of the chute bythe power instrumentalities, and means to prevent operation of. thechute under the control of the manual means when the chute is innon-discharging position, and means controlled by said manual means fordelaying the operation of the chute incident to the operation of thepower instrumentalities under the control of the batch meter.

15. In a chute operating device, in combination, a chute, ,means toactuate the chute including a worm gear. adapted to be engaged andactuated by said worm but havmg a recess to receive the worm and thusprevent such engagement, means for centering the worm gear so that theworm is fully out of operative engagement with the worm gear andcentered withrespect for the worm gear said recess, means for shiftingto engage it with the worm.

16. In a chute operating device, in combination, a chute, means toactuate the chute including a worm gear adapted to be en gaged andactuated by said worm but having a recess to receive the worm and thusprevent such engagement, means for centering the worm gear so that theworm is fully outof operative engagement with the worm gear and centeredwith respect for 7 said recess, means for shifting the Worm gear toengage it with the worm, the centering means cooperating to limitmovement of the worm gear in either of opposite direc tions.

17. In combination, a rotative concrete mixing drum, a discharge devicetherefor, batchmeter control means for causing the application of powerto the discharge device for setting it in an operative position, andmeans for simultaneously discontinuing the said application of power tothe discharge device and stopping the same after it has reached thedesired operative position, the power applying means comprising instrumentalities for connecting the drum with the discharge device to actuatethe latter.

18. In combination, a rotary a discharge device therefor, batchmetercontrol means to connect the discharge device with the drum foractuation thereby, manual means to interfere with the operation ofaction of the latter,

by the drum as aforesaid.

19. In combination, a rotary concrete-mix: f I ng drum, a dischargechute therefor, batchmeter control means for actuating said dischargechute including eonnections intermediate the drum and the chute fortransmitting motion of the drum to the latter, and

means adapted to be operated by a loading skip for actuating thedischarge chute to cause t to assume a non-discharging positlon inrelation to the drum. i

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.-

ADOLPH G. MENN IN GEN.

miXing drum,

